The future of ship-based content?

Stealthie

Stealthie
NOT a "doom" thread.
Just wondering about the implications of recent news.

Basically, with FDev announcing that Horizons is "completed", and that no more console development will occur, I wonder how much ship-based content we're likely to see developed in the future (within the next year or so, especially)?

Odyssey IS, obviously, FDev's current "project" within ED so I guess it's understandable that they're going to add new stuff to that but it'd be nice to see some new spaceship-related stuff in my favorite spaceship game.
And, within the current Odyssey/PC paradigm, would that mean any new spaceship stuff wouldn't be available for console/Horizons players?

The fact that DB said "...we have decided to cancel all console development." - with a full-stop at the end - rather than saying "... console development of the Odyssey DLC." seems needlessly absolute if FDev have plans to release new ship-based content... which, presumably, could be accessible for Horizons/console players.

I gotta say, I'm a bit confused as to how FDev might finance and implement further interesting ship-related content, though.
Stuff on the scale of the changes to mining and navigation/exploration needed a significant amount of development so I doubt we're ever going to get more stuff like that for free but, OTOH, it's going to complicate matters if new features are offered as paid DLC which won't be universally owned by all players.

All just seems like a bit of a minefield, to me, and I'm a bit worried FDev might just take the easy option by avoiding adding further ship-based content.
 

zombieapocalypse

zombieapocalypse
Presumably, FDev will be merging EDO and EDH into a single client/codebase at some point, so EDH on consoles will be a separate codebase and probably put into maintenance mode. That doesn't mean that we won't be getting any new ship-related content on PC, but it could mean that such content doesn't make it to consoles. This is all just speculation on my part.
 

CardioTherapy

C
well, you still need a ship to go anywhere. APEX sues also sapce ships so any on foot content is direclty related to sapce game. But yes we need new ships and ship ineriors and new enemies to fight. and so on...
 

Erei

Erei
It's more about the fact Odyssey (client, not DLC) will be the new horizon on pc. All the future changes will be made for Odyssey engine (if you will, I'm over simplifying). Since it's different than Horizon, it would need to port those changes, something Fdev don't want to do.

So it doesn't mean nothing will ever happen to the non DLC content, it just mean it will be on Odyssey client only.
 

Thatchinho

Thatchinho
Stealthie said:
Basically, with FDev announcing that Horizons is "completed", and that no more console development will occur, I wonder how much ship-based content we're likely to see developed in the future (within the next year or so, especially)?

Odyssey IS, obviously, FDev's current "project" within ED so I guess it's understandable that they're going to add new stuff to that but it'd be nice to see some new spaceship-related stuff in my favorite spaceship game.
And, within the current Odyssey/PC paradigm, would that mean any new spaceship stuff wouldn't be available for console/Horizons players?

The fact that DB said "...we have decided to cancel all console development." - with a full-stop at the end - rather than saying "... console development of the Odyssey DLC." seems needlessly absolute if FDev have plans to release new ship-based content... which, presumably, could be accessible for Horizons/console players.
Click to expand...
It’s ongoing development of the pre-Odyssey (i.e. Base game/Horizons) codebase which DB said was being dropped, not just Odyssey for console.

So the assumption should be that there’s no new features for Horizons.

In terms of ‘content’ well who knows - it’s too much of a ‘it means what I personally want it to mean’ word to be useful. But Galnet articles can probably be assumed to continue. CG’s that don’t require Odyssey features will probably continue as well. (Though that’s all just speculation.)
 

CMDR Jayce MacLeod

CMDR Jayce MacLeod
New ships, New roles, perhaps Guardian hybrid ships, perhaps thargoid hybrid ships, new modules, new weapons, new double engineered modules, new paint jobs and ship interiors.

That's the future of ship based content in a nutshell. Hopefully all of these things will come, and if so, the future will be bright 🌞
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Thatchinho said:
It’s ongoing development of the pre-Odyssey (i.e. Base game/Horizons) codebase which DB said was being dropped, not just Odyssey for console.

So the assumption should be that there’s no new features for Horizons.
Click to expand...

That's what I find odd, though.

As long as it's likely - or even just possible - that something new might appear that'd be available for EDH/Console players, you'd think less absolute wording might have been used.

I mean, I'm sure we could come up with a huge list of ship-based features that we'd like to see implemented, most of which wouldn't be "groundbreaking" but they'd probably be significant enough that you couldn't just expect the dev's to knock them together in a week and drop them as a nice surprise during an update.

I just don't really see how a lot of that stuff could be developed without being paid-DLC... but then, if it is paid-DLC, there's the risk of fragmenting the player-base.
 

Deleted member 182079

D
Thargoids on foot seem like the logical next step - how far developed that is at this stage is anyone's guess, or indeed whether it's even a thing at all... if it is that'll keep FDev busy enough for a while, meaning it could also push any subsequent DLCs back further (assuming they're not yet able to drop the final product because they need the storyline to progress, which has been trodding along at the usual snail's pace, but I haven't been paying much attention to it).

However since we know absolutely jack sheet really at this moment in time because FDev don't want to tell, I'm content with assuming that 'this is it' for the medium term at least (6 months or thereabouts).
 

Mr_Foxhound

M
zombieapocalypse said:
Presumably, FDev will be merging EDO and EDH into a single client/codebase at some point, so EDH on consoles will be a separate codebase and probably put into maintenance mode. That doesn't mean that we won't be getting any new ship-related content on PC, but it could mean that such content doesn't make it to consoles. This is all just speculation on my part.
Click to expand...
what makes you think they have the skill to murge EDH And EDO if they cant do console? i would be more concerned that they might drop support and updates for EDH and just focus EDO . if they can drop console with a large player base they can do the same again
 

Deleted member 182079

D
Mr_Foxhound said:
what makes you think they have the skill to murge EDH And EDO if they cant do console? i would be more concerned that they might drop support and updates for EDH and just focus EDO . if they can drop console with a large player base they can do the same again
Click to expand...
It's already there - in the form of the Odyssey client, Horizons players will just not have access to the Odyssey exclusive bits. Just a case of FDev pressing the button which will trigger Horizons players to download that client, the only thing that's presumably holding them back are the ongoing performance issues, which while not as bad as last year, will still ruffle some feathers at least for those on lower spec machines.
 

Erei

Erei
Stealthie said:
That's what I find odd, though.

As long as it's likely - or even just possible - that something new might appear that'd be available for EDH/Console players, you'd think less absolute wording might have been used.

I mean, I'm sure we could come up with a huge list of ship-based features that we'd like to see implemented, most of which wouldn't be "groundbreaking" but they'd probably be significant enough that you couldn't just expect the dev's to knock them together in a week and drop them as a nice surprise during an update.

I just don't really see how a lot of that stuff could be developed without being paid-DLC... but then, if it is paid-DLC, there's the risk of fragmenting the player-base.
Click to expand...
You are confused by how it works it seems.

Horizon is both the name of a DLC (now free) and a client.
Odyssey is the same with another DLC and another client.

When DB made the letter, it was about the client. Which is why it was absolute words. If you launch the game on PC you can see 2 client (3choices) :
-play in odyssey client (with dlc, I don't think you can play that one without it)
-play with horizon client (with DLC, what we had pre-odyssey)
-play with horizon (without dlc)

Speaking only of client from now on, and leaving the DLC part out of it. Horizon and Odyssey, while relatively similar have difference between. Mostly graphical. So, say they want to add a ship to the game, they'll need to make one for odyssey and one for horizon. That's nearly double the work. Something they don't want to do.

What will happen in the future.
-Console will keep the horizon client
-PC will be on odyssey client. Dlc is irrelevant for that, you'll just be able to do more content with it
-only the Odyssey client will see updates


Non DLC content that can be included in the future in ED is pretty much everything that could have been included with horizon. There are no differences really.
 

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Jumpin' Jack Flash
Hi All :)

Stealthie said:
(Abbreviated)

All just seems like a bit of a minefield, to me, and I'm a bit worried FDev might just take the easy option by avoiding adding further ship-based content.
Click to expand...

Hi Stelthie 🙋‍♂️
Well...🤔....since the main content of ED is all about spaceships travelling through space, I'd think not adding some new ships in the near future would be quite detrimental to the game?
For instance, I'm just wondering about all those permit locked systems that nobody can access at the moment, they are obviously (it seems to me) keeping them closed for reasons only the developers know about (obviously), and are working on. I'm hoping there's something in there that could be new to the game. What are in those systems is anybody's guess, but I would hope that one of the features locked in there at the moment could be new ships, ships that are unique to alien races we haven't seen yet.
Yeah, It's just my imagination wandering but something like that would really refresh the game to my way of thinking. Imagine the impact something like that would have, suddenly or maybe a gradual opening up of systems could present a totally new area to explore, meet new alien races, unique technology, trade and perhaps some unexpected events, new ship design content would be awesome.
Ah well, we'll just have to wait and see what develops in the hopefully near future, but I think in any event, most players would welcome some new ships to play around with, and sooner rather than later. 😉

Edit...just an afterthought, new ships in the context of what I've described wouldn't necessarily mean that content would only apply to Odyssey either, I'd have thought the same content in it's basic form could also mean Horizons players wouldn't be left out either.

Jack :)
 
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Jumpin' Jack Flash

Jumpin' Jack Flash
Hi Erei :)
Erei said:
(Abbreviated)

Speaking only of client from now on, and leaving the DLC part out of it. Horizon and Odyssey, while relatively similar have difference between. Mostly graphical. So, say they want to add a ship to the game, they'll need to make one for odyssey and one for horizon. That's nearly double the work. Something they don't want to do.
Click to expand...

You have a point, and I understand what you're saying, and you're most probably right. On the other hand they are developers, work is work whatever business you are in. Adding new content is important and relative to this game in particular. I would imagine the people playing only Horizons is fairly large?....I don't know, I also don't know whether Frontier as you say...."That's nearly double the work. Something they don't want to do." is actually what they are thinking? 🤷‍♂️
Keeping players playing your game/s would be fairly important I'd imagine?.
It would be interesting to know just how many people play Horizons or Odyssey, I know from observation on this forum some players skip from Horizons to Odyssey and back again (I do for various reasons), some stay with Horizons because of the computer hardware needed to play Odyssey, some have migrated to Odyssey only.
As I've stated, I haven't a clue what Frontier are actually thinking in this context, but I'd imagine they wouldn't want to lose that Horizons player base at the moment. 🤔

Jack :)
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Jumpin' Jack Flash said:
Hi All :)



Hi Stelthie 🙋‍♂️
Well...🤔....since the main content of ED is all about spaceships travelling through space, I'd think not adding some new ships in the near future would be quite detrimental to the game?
For instance, I'm just wondering about all those permit locked systems that nobody can access at the moment, they are obviously (it seems to me) keeping them closed for reasons only the developers know about (obviously), and are working on. I'm hoping there's something in there that could be new to the game. What are in those systems is anybody's guess, but I would hope that one of the features locked in there at the moment could be new ships, ships that are unique to alien races we haven't seen yet.
Yeah, It's just my imagination wandering but something like that would really refresh the game to my way of thinking. Imagine the impact something like that would have, suddenly or maybe a gradual opening up of systems could present a totally new area to explore, meet new alien races, unique technology, trade and perhaps some unexpected events, new ship design content would be awesome.
Ah well, we'll just have to wait and see what develops in the hopefully near future, but I think in any event, most players would welcome some new ships to play around with, and sooner rather than later. 😉

Edit...just an afterthought, new ships in the context of what I've described wouldn't necessarily mean that content would only apply to Odyssey either, I'd have thought the same content in it's basic form could also mean Horizons players wouldn't be left out either.

Jack :)
Click to expand...

I hate to sound cynical but I suspect that, with regard to the various permit-locked systems/areas, FDev probably sketched out a few rough ideas, on paper, for storylines back when ED was in development and then just reserved systems/areas that might be suitable.

"We need a system for a Thargoid homeworld. This'll do."
"We need an area that can be populated by the 'goid's enemies. It needs to be a fair distance from 'goid territory soooo... how about here?!"
"If we're going to implement another living alien species, they'll need to have somewhere to live, so this area will do for that."
Etc.


I don't mean to minimise the effort it takes to create a new ship but, for me, new ships are the absolute bare-minimum of new content I'd expect to see implemented.
What I'm talking about is entirely new additions to the game, stuff like racing, advanced sciency stuff and planetary surveying, diving into the atmosphere of gas giants for reasons, specialist modules to build KSP-style ships.

Basically, I (quite understandably) can't see FDev deciding to take the months required to put together an entirely new bit of gameplay and then just provide it for free.
Conversely, I wonder how well-integrated any new content might be if it's optional paid-DLC.
 
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